1It was in the fourth year of King Darius. The word of the LORD came to Zechariah in the fourth month, the ninth, in Kislev.2Bethel sent Sarezer, King Regem, and his men to seek the face of the LORD.3to say to the priests who are of the house of the LORD of hosts and to the prophets, to say, "Shall I weep in the fifth month, fasting as I have done these many years?"4And the word of the LORD of hosts came to me, saying:5Say to all the people of the land and the priests: "When you fasted and mourned in the fifth month and the seventh month during these seventy years, was the fast that you fasted for me?"6And when you eat and when you drink, is it not you who eat and drink?7Are not these the words that the LORD proclaimed by the former prophets when Jerusalem was inhabited and at peace, with her cities around her, and the Negev and the Shephelah were inhabited?8And the word of the LORD came to Zechariah, saying:9This is what the LORD of hosts says: Judge with true justice, and show steadfast love and mercy, man to his brother.10And widow and orphan, resident alien and poor—do not oppress; and do not devise evil against your brother in your heart.11But they refused to listen and gave a stubborn shoulder and made their ears heavy from hearing.12And they placed a thornbush in their heart from hearing the Torah and the Words which the LORD of hosts sent by his Spirit by the hand of the former prophets, and there was great wrath from the LORD of hosts.13And just as they called and did not hear, so they will call and I will not hear, says the LORD of hosts.14And I will scatter them among all the nations that they did not know, and the land will be desolated after them so that no one passes through or dwells there, and they made the desirable land a desolation.